Album Review: JID – ‘God Does Like Ugly’
Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
JID drop day should be a national holiday. Three years ago, when I wrote about his last masterpiece, The Forever Story, I mourned the lack of full-bodied, soulful albums in the rap world, in favor of bloated projects built to capitalize on the streaming-industrial complex. Since then, few have bucked that trend—Kendrick’s 2024 GNX, Killer Mike’s 2023 Michael, and Denzel Curry’s 2024 King of the Mischievous South all come to mind—even as some of the most addictive artists of the epoch reinforce it. I mean, I love Ken Carson as much as the next white boy, but there’s something different about a consciously-crafted project. JID, the modern master, delivers again with God Does Like Ugly.
I knew we were in for something incredible after the first 30 seconds of “YouUgly,” and the hits keep coming across this masterful tape. “Glory” had me— a consummate sinner—bopping along with the beat, ready to head to Sunday service. “WRK,” the lead single from the album, fits perfectly in the progression of the album. leading into arguably the best song on the record, “Community,” featuring the resurrected Clipse. JID’s first line on the song references Frank Herbert’s Dune—“Lisan Al-Gaib, I see a tiny line of silver”—adding to the myriad literary references throughout the album. “Gz” is my personal favorite song from the album, containing the insane bar (again literary) “might not see bandanas, but he squeeze the hammer / Like he John Henry tryna beat the train.” That line in and of itself is phenomenal; the rest of the album solidifies God Does Like Ugly as one of the standouts of 2025. If you haven’t listened yet, get to WRK!
Disappointing / Average / Good / Great / Phenomenal
God Does Like Ugly is out now.
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Hanson Egerland | @hanson_egg
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